When is the right time for making wireframes for your Startup App?

Before day one! That’s the quick answer. If you use the Startup App wireframing sessions as the cornerstone for your team building, that’s a way to kill two birds with one stone.

Startup teams need to work quick and smooth. The low definition and quickness of wireframes help make your Startup App happen this way

In this post, I would like to go beyond this quick answer and tell you how to build wireframes as a team.

The three different team members mindsets of your Startup

Sometimes seems like software, design and business teams cannot agree. The thing is they work the same objectives at different times.

UX/UI team works top-down going from the hardest to model functionalities to the easiest ones. On the other hand, Software Development is an ongoing process that needs continuous input, given by Business guys. The sooner the three mindsets get onboard the easier to come up with agreements.

Preparation

Set roles in your team according to your Startup App business and your individual experiences, somebody plays the user, other play the back office staff and the most innovative can think about the “extra mile” features.

Discuss, negotiate, agree..in the same room (if possible)

Make it live. Each session must synchronize these three assets: Wireframes, user stories and business rules.

“Go for the wireframes before user stories or coding, always”

One or two guys in your team need to be proficient on a wireframing tool like Balsamiq, etc. to handle all ideas and draw them on the go.

Each time a new idea or task comes up, follow these steps.

Draw it as quick to include all team members ideas while keeping a good timing.

Take your time to nurture it.

a- You know the feature precisely: Advance the wireframes as far as the meeting time allows. It may happen that you need more than one meeting to cover the happy path, error scenarios and exceptions.

b- Otherwise: Take more time either to shape the idea, once you have it, go back to (a).

Write/update the related user stories and business rules.Be as specific as possible, having the complete “vertical slice” glued with: The wireframes flow, user stories updated and the business rules at the core of the system. By doing this binding live your team will maximize congruency because all guys are on the same page at that moment.

Wrap-up.If everything is complete according to all team members, you’re done. Otherwise go back to step 1.

For best results: Try to make sessions of one hour or less per task approached.

“Extra hint: Start always reviewing the feature with the highest business value first”